Virginia Tech Massacre Timeline - Serious Questions Remain

I don't know how much more I will post on this topic, but something today caught my attention that I strongly feel warrants discussion. According to a timeline at MSNBC the second attack by Cho lasted a full thirty-five minues or more. Yes, 35. As in more than one half-hour! Can this really be true? A quick check around the web found a stunningly small selection of timelines. But Wikipedia does roughly confirm the MSN version of events.

Here are some timeline highlights:

9:15 AM - Second Shooting Incident Begins at Norris Hall (Multiple Sources)
9:25 AM - Students Hear Gun shots (MSNBC Timeline)
9:45 AM - Police Notified of Shooting At Norris Hall (Multiple Sources)
9:50 - 10:00 AM - Cho Ends Massacre Taking His Own Life (Conflicting Sources)

According to the Police and all accounts the shooter was never engaged by Police. Also, according to the Police they were notified of the shootings at 9:45 AM. How is that possible? Are we to believe that it took 30 minutes for a 911 call to be made to the Police? In an age when practically every college student owns a cell phone? This doesn't make any sense. What is even more shocking to me is that no one even seems interested in bringing it up. We know that a good number of students succesfully fled the scene by jumping from the second floor windows of Norris Hall. Didn't any of these students cry for help? Make a call? Attract the attention of other students? We also know that at least one student recorded gunshots on video (on a cell phone). So we know that at least some of the shots were heard across the campus. Still no one calls Police while this goes no from 9:15 to 9:45?

I admit that I don't have enough facts to draw adequate conclusions. But I am stunned that no one seems to be asking the questions! Here are a few that need answers....

1. Did Cho really begin shooting at 9:15 AM?
2. Has anyone independently confirmed the claim by Police that they weren't notified until 9:45?
3. Do any students have phone records that would refute the notion that the Police weren't notified sooner?
4. Did the 911 system fail the students in this crisis - were they unable to get through to Police because the lines were jammed?
5. What Police stations did these 911 phones contact - how does 911 operate on Virginia Tech?
6. Were the Campus police notified first - and if so, were they notified before 9:45?

It seems to me that far too much attention has been focused on the University's response after the first shooting and the email notifications. Why isn't anyone asking how a gunman can with apparent leisure hunt down victims for over 35 minutes without once encountering any authorities? Are we to believe that not one student contacted the Police for the first 30 minutes of this rampage? It just doesn't add up. What do you think?

When the Monster Breaks You - Cho Seung Hui

They say that what you mock

Will surely overtake you

And you become a monster

So the monster will not break you

Bono of U2's despairing complaint "Peace On Earth" perhaps summarizes the horrific conclusion to the life of Cho Seung-Hui, perpetrator of the Virginia Tech massacre. While there is plenty of reason to presume that Cho was mentally ill it is perhaps a more reassuring conclusion than this one - Cho was an evil monster. But was Cho a "born monster"? Was he a "bad seed" who was destined to end his life as a mass murderer? Or did Cho, as Bono's song goes, "become a monster so the monster will not break you"?

Everybody is asking "Why". How could such a sullen young man who barely spoke a word to anyone (one of his roommates actually thought for months that Cho was an exchange student who couldn't speak English) turn into a calculated killer? The answer to why he was driven to commit the largest mass slaying in our nation's bloody history may have a shockingly pedestrian answer. Cho was bullied. Perhaps bullied on the bus. Yes, it seems absurd to suggest that it could be as simple as Cho's inability to handle a seeming "right of passage" in our society, but consider the following...

In Cho's videotaped diatribe that he mailed to NBC he made some statements that sounded to me like quotes from movies or books. My guess was that many of his strange statements were excerpts of "hot phrases" he had acquired over the years and not original. One of Cho's raging comments, "The decision was yours" struck me as such a phrase. Apparently I misheard Cho and typed in a Google search for "The Decision Is Yours" instead. That yielded the rather shocking result you see displayed above when I clicked on a listing for a book on Amazon.com. The book cover is from "Bully on the Bus" which is part of a book series displayed on the book cover - "The Decision Is Yours". While a book about a kid bullied on a bus isn't exactly ground-breaking news, I found the image of an apparently Asian child with a large question mark beside his head startling.

We know that Cho referred to himself as "Question Mark" and that he even signed in on the first day of one class at VA Tech with nothing other than the symbol, "?" instead of signing his name. This incident earned Cho the title amongst fellow students of "The question mark kid". Cho apparently embraced this moniker and according to his roommates cultivated an "alter-ego" called "Question Mark". One VA Tech female student believes Cho used the symbol in a stalking incident and one roomate claims Cho made prank calls claiming to be "Question Mark".

I immediately wondered if it was even possible that Cho could have been aware of this book and discovered that "Bully On the Bus", written by Carl W. Bosch, was first published in 1988. Cho, born in 1984, could certainly of had access to this book. In fact, the book and the entire "The Decision Is Yours" series is popluar with counselors and mental health professionals. A review on Amazon.com by Carol Watkins, a child psychiatrist, praises the book and describes it this way...

I like this book and the others in the Decision is Yours Series. In this story, a boy encounters a a peer who threatens him verbally and physically. The reader can create many different scenarios by choosing different actions. Once the reader chooses an action, he goes to the appropriate page. The story changes based on each decision. Kids can see what might happen if they choose to be assertive, aggressive or submissive. Then they can go back and try it again another way. Many of us have wished that we could redo our own life decisions. I have used this book with individual children and young adolescents. I have also used it with groups. Often a child or adolescent who has been victimized has trouble thinking of different options. This book can open up possibilities. It provides realistic positive and negative consequences. The reader can see that certain actions might end you up in the principal's office. Other actions might lead to new sources of social support. I would recommend this book for elementary and middle schools, to therapists, and to children who are bullied.

The words of Ms. Watkins hit me hard - "Many of us have wished that we could redo our own life decisions" and "Often a child or adolescent who has been victimized has trouble thinking of different options." As I write CNN is airing a report from a childhood neighbor of Cho's who freely admits that Cho was bullied and ridiculed. Cho is referred to as "an easy target". Other reports have stated that Cho was bullied in Middle School. It also appears that by the time Cho had reached High School he had solidified the silent loner personna that he held until his shocking conversion to a ranting mass murderer. When Cho was forced to speak in a high school class when a teacher had students take turns reading outloud he was met with mocking disdain as classmates told him to "go back to China" [note the link isn't directly related to Cho - just an example of how racial hatred for many is great entertainment].

I'm sure this is just one of many stories that could be told about the humiliation that Cho endured. Does this explain his crimes? Am I trying to defend his actions? No. And no. I will leave the deeper analysis to the "professionals" but it just seems to me that "The Question Mark Kid" was bullied by monsters, and then became one. Cho absorbed years of evil hatred and then became evil incarnate. In Cho's words he "ran out of options". But Cho turned "The Decision Is Yours" to the "The Decision WAS Yours" and then the monster broke him and shattered 32 lives, a school, and a nation.

Interesting Link:

http://stephyinkorea.blogspot.com/2007/04/korea-herald-korea-mourning-shooting.html

Free Hugs Video

I posted the other day about Free Hugs. Here is a video that has become very popular about a guy on a Free Hugs campaign.

Working for "The Man"

One of my favorite movies of the last couple years was School of Rock. I should post on that sometime. Jack Black's character in said film has a great rant about "working for the man". Which leads me to the topic of the internet and blogging and free commerce and socialism. I am of the opinion that it is far better to "be the man" then to work for him. So, as part of my blogoshphere experiment I am going to try out Google's AdSense. Who knows. I might even make 5 bucks before the end of the world as we know it. Or I might just get lucky and somehow turn this thing into some sort of avocation. If nothing else it will be funny to see exactly what AdSense does with my content.

Perhaps you are wondering how AdSense works... well, basically Google takes content and tries to deliver ads that are somehow related contextually. So if I were to blog about, say, Jack Black and the School of Rock, it would perhaps show an ad for Jack's latest film. If I were to blog about my creaky back then maybe there would be an ad from some chiropractor, or maybe healing herbs or something. So then the idea is that you, dear reader, feel compelled to check out that herbal remedy for every known human ailment, and click on the ad. If and when that happens I suppose Google pays me a half a cent or something for facilitating your healing.

So the question is this... am I "working for the man" by agreeing to include AdSense on my site? Or am I sticking it to the man? Or am I sticking it to you... the poor reader... and therefore I am the man? Maybe all of the above. But as long as no one gets hurt and I am one half-cent richer is it really so terrible? And what about poor blogger.com? How do they ever make any money providing me this space on the web and nifty tool to share my thoughts and feelings? I suppose they get some piece of the Google action. Somebody has to pay for all this bandwidth, right? Ultimately every body has to eat, and I have no problem with commerce. Google's motto is "do no harm". Well, we will see about that I guess.

Some parting thoughts....

1) Hyperlinks in my content are just there for the readers pleasure and my amusement. They have nothing to do with AdSense and I don't make any money off those links (I'll have to look into that though - heh).

2) The ads that are at the top of my blog are placed there by Google and I have no control over them. Google did make me sign an agreement which included a promise that I would not place pornographic material on my site, so I hopefully can assume that Google has certain standards and the ads won't be terribly offensive. If they are offensive to you, sorry.

3) This is an experiment. So your comments are welcome.

Free Hugs

One of my featured blogger links is Sunburned and she has a recent post that is really interesting. She relates a story about how on a recent Sunday in church her Pastor instructed the congregation to "hug the person next to you". I've been in church services where we shook hands, told the person next to us, "Jesus loves you", or something like that, but hugs? Never. But Miss "Sunburned" wasn't sitting next to anyone she knew, and felt awkward and pressured and slipped out of church only to come across a guy on the streets of New York city holding a sign, "Free Hugs".

Her take on this is certainly worth a read, but it also brings me to a little theory I have held for some time. In short, my theory is that "random acts of kindness" don't need any other goal than the act of kindness itself and that sometimes the less focused we are on a "spiritual outcome" the more God is able to use it for spiritual good. I have certainly done my share of acts of callousness and flat out rudeness in public, but I have also had some moments of charity as well. I don't pass out bills to every person on the streets of Philadelphia bumming for change but I have had some interesting experiences when the spirit seemed to move me to an act of kindness. They have ranged from giving rides to a semi-psychopath, buying breakfast for a homeless person, chasing down a neighbor's lost dog, and rescuing the victim of a hit and run. These moments usually bless me more than the receiver and they are fascinating experiences.

When I share these stories with others I get all sorts of reactions. Some people seem to think I am bragging. Sadly they have missed the point that these acts blessed me the most, and it is not any more of a "brag" than if I had related how someone had helped me out instead. Some people find it inspiring and come back to me later with their own inspiring stories. But what is very common, and disturbing, is that a lot of Bible-believing Christians will almost always ask me the same question.... "So did you... [insert a spiritual action here] when you helped them?" The "spiritual action" question could be everything from inviting them to church, to giving them spiritual literature, to praying with them, to an invitation to accept Jesus. Now please understand. I am definitely not saying that inviting someone to church or preaching the Good News is wrong. To everything there is a season... the proverb goes (no, it wasn't just a song... it was in Ecclesiastes first). There have been times when I have given someone change and told them "Jesus loves you" and really meant it. I also think street witnessing is a lost art that is entirely valid. But in most of these cases I have found that I can trust God's spirit to use the simple act to which He seems to have compelled me without me saying much of anything. Sometimes people "just need a hug".

I look at it this way... let's say that I look behind me in the grocery line and I see a mom with a pair of cranky children. I don't have a lot of groceries and she doesn't have too much, and she looks like she's had a really bad day. So I insist she trade spots with me in line. Generally I HATE lines, and would rip the arm off of someone who tried to take my spot, so I know that God is moving here. Do I tell her, "Jesus loves you", or suggest she attend my church? Do I give her a Gospel of John? Nope. I just give her my spot in line and smile. "What possible good could this do?", some may ask (and believe me, some have asked me). Well, maybe she is just an average Mom just having a bad day. But maybe her husband just left her, for the second time, and her Father is dying of cancer. And maybe one of her best friends just did something really terrible to her. Maybe her best friend is the "other woman". And maybe this woman behind me in line has decided she is going to take home her groceries, and cook herself her favorite meal, and drop her kids off at Grandmom's house and drive into a tree on her way to her night-shift at the nursing home, and kill herself. Because maybe she has decided that there is just no good in the world, and she has lost all hope of God's compassion. Maybe, just maybe, my small act of kindness might give her reason to hope, and make it through another day. What God does with this woman from there I don't know. All we can do is be obedient and not squelch God's Spirit when we are compelled. God can take it from there.

To everything there is a season, a time for every purpose under heaven: A time to be born, And a time to die; A time to plant, And a time to pluck what is planted; A time to kill, And a time to heal; time to break down, And a time to build up; A time to weep, And a time to laugh; A time to mourn, And a time to dance; A time to cast away stones, And a time to gather stones; A time to embrace, And a time to refrain from embracing; A time to gain, And a time to lose; A time to keep, And a time to throw away; A time to tear, And a time to sew; A time to keep silence, And a time to speak; A time to love, And a time to hate; A time of war, And a time of peace.

Bling Rings

While our democracy was hurtling toward the apocalypse (unless you are a Democrat) I was playing around with ringtones for my new cell phone. My business switched to Verizon - and thus the new phone. One of my first discoveries was that the standard ringtone options were a joke (I actually have been in mourning for years over the loss of the ascending Nokia default tone but that is another story). To say my default options were meager and wanting is an understatement. They were "cynically meager and wanting" is more like it. This is the dark side of Customer Relationship Management... give your customer so crappy of a default option that they are compelled to make an additional purchase.

Obviously Verizon wants me to buy some Bling Rings as they are taking a piece of that action. Well Verizon, and evil Dogbert marketing so and so's, I have an answer for you. If you can't beat em, join em! I found a very cool service at http://www.myxer.com/ that allows you to create your own Bling Rings, or download freebies from other Ringmeister Rachmaninoffs. They also have some rings for purchase - usually at much better prices than the $3.00 for 30 seconds you pay for major artist tunes (and why does it cost more for a 30 second ring-tone sample of a song then if I downloaded the whole mp3??). You can even create AND sell your own tones. The best thing for me was that the service is compatible with Verizon, although it appears that the developer's of this service had some special hoops to jump thru to make it work.

There may be better services than www.Myxer.com, and if anyone knows of better services please comment. I did play around with another service at www.musicane.com but it is more artist than consumer oriented and buying ringtones requires a credit card. Myxer allows PayPal and the whole purchase experience just seems more user-friendly to me.

Now if I can just figure out how to sample that old Nokia ringtone and put it on my new cell. Take that Verizon, Samsung, and all you evil marketing geniuses out there.

Should we forgive Ted Haggard?

So should we forgive Haggard or not? First things first... let's hear from the Pastor who was removed for accusations that he was involved in an illicit affair with a gay prostitute. Here is a portion of Haggard's apology that was read this past Sunday at his church...

I asked that this note be read to you this morning so I could clarify my heart's condition to you. The last four days have been so difficult for me, my family and all of you, and I have further confused the situation with some of the things I've said during interviews with reporters who would catch me coming or going from my home. But I alone am responsible for the confusion caused by my inconsistent statements. The fact is, I am guilty of sexual immorality, and I take responsibility for the entire problem.

I am a deceiver and a liar. There is a part of my life that is so repulsive and dark that I’ve been warring against it all of my adult life. For extended periods of time, I would enjoy victory and rejoice in freedom. Then, from time to time, the dirt that I thought was gone would resurface, and I would find myself thinking thoughts and experiencing desires that were contrary to everything I believe and teach.

Through the years, I’ve sought assistance in a variety of ways, with none of them proving to be effective in me. Then, because of pride, I began deceiving those I love the most because I didn’t want to hurt or disappoint them. The public person I was wasn’t a lie; it was just incomplete. When I stopped communicating about my problems, the darkness increased and finally dominated me. As a result, I did things that were contrary to everything I believe. The accusations that have been leveled against me are not all true, but enough of them are true that I have been appropriately and lovingly removed from ministry. Our church's overseers have required me to submit to the oversight of Dr. James Dobson, Pastor Jack Hayford, and Pastor Tommy Barnett. Those men will perform a thorough analysis of my mental, spiritual, emotional, and physical life. They will guide me through a program with the goal of healing and restoration for my life, my marriage, and my family.

I created this entire situation. The things that I did opened the door for additional allegations. But I am responsible; I alone need to be disciplined and corrected. An example must be set.

I will admit it. I caught a sound-bite about Haggard's apology and was extremely skeptical. After all, Haggard may have given some of the most pathetic and embarassing series of interviews over the last several days that I can recall in some time. First Haggard said he bought the drugs, but didn't use them. Then he used the drugs and received a massage but had never had a gay relationship. It was very sad to watch. So I was prepared to say that Haggard can't just suddenly turn around and ask for forgiveness less than 24 hours after making ridiculous denials. Then again, God's grace is like that. Dirty sinners caught red-handed get declared "innocent" in God's eyes. Even when they are preachers rallying against gays that get outed for frequenting a gay prostitute. Of course the true test of the sincerity of Haggard's apology will be determined by what happens next. Will Haggard repent from his hypocrisy and put his life, and family, back together? I don't know. It will take a miracle. A miracle of grace.